Mstislav Rostropovich — cellist with roots in the USSR
Mstislav Rostropovich was a Soviet-Russian cellist and conductor widely regarded as the greatest cellist of the 20th century. He commissioned and premiered more than 100 works including Shostakovich's Cello Concertos and Britten's Cello Symphony. He sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his dacha and was expelled from the USSR for it.
Tracing the roots — Baku (Azerbaijan)
Born in Baku (Azerbaijan, then USSR) in 1927 to Leopold Rostropovich, a cellist of Ukrainian origin, Mstislav spent his career at the Bolshoi Theatre and Moscow Conservatory before his expulsion from the USSR in 1978 after sheltering Solzhenitsyn. He famously played an impromptu Bach concert at the Berlin Wall as it fell in 1989.
Baku (Azerbaijan). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"I play Bach because I believe in Bach."